I knew there was a reason why my mother always put the stuffed turkey in the oven about 6 am and it wasn't ready to eat til 1 pm. The stuffing was delicious but the turkey was so very dry. I expect the turkey to be fixed the same way this Thanksgiving when we eat at her home; but mine will be a brined and deep fried turkey at my house.

Call it lazy or conformity but ever since I started doing Thanksgiving I have never filled the turkey with stuffing; I just bake it separately in the oven. Less mess, less fuss, and no worries about it reaching 160 degrees inside a bird.

Not certain about the possibility of taking the stuffing out of a bird and heating it to 160 degrees; never thought about doing it.

I concur that stuffing is bad. (Much to my mother's dismay.) Here is the problem as I see it. It is hard to cook white meat to 165 and dark meat to 180 without stuffing. I haven't found a way yet to get stuffing up to a safe temp without overcooking the meat.

What if one were to cook the stuffing in the bird and then, when the bird is done, transfer the stuffing to a 350 degree oven for a few minutes to make sure it is finished off- bird flavor AND no nasties?

Thats how my family did it growing up and as long as you bring it up to temp you should be good. I don't do it that way as I find it far more beneficial to stuff my turkey with aromatics. I do however hit my stuffing with some smoke for about 20 minutes after its finsihed in the oven on the grill while the turkey rests.